Saturday, October 27, 2012

ROLL TITLES

It seems like everyone now is fixed on their electronics. My guess is that better than 50 percent and maybe as much as 75 percent of reading on public transportation is now done cybernetically. It makes me wonder what they're reading, which is seldom obvious.

It is much easier to see what those readers who are reading "real" books are reading. I have, therefore, documented here some titles of paperback or hardback books recently being read on Trimet (with some commentary):

Missing Persons by Stephen White. The reader was a middle aged man wearing an Obama badge.

Quantum Leaps In The Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins. It took me so long to write down the title that the guy reading it left before I could make a note about him.The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis. This looked like a 50-year old paperback. The reader was a young woman sporting a baby-doll look including: ruby red lipstick with matching shoes and white knee socks.

If Looks Could Kill. Amazon lists at least six different novels by this title. As I didn't catch the author's name, I can't tell you which one it was. The reader: a middle-aged woman.

High Noon by Nora Roberts ("This is just a dirty little village in the middle of nowhere. Nothing that happens here is really important." Oh, sorry, it's not that High Noon.) The reader: a middle-aged woman.

A Japanese paperback. The reader: a young woman with Asian features.Victims by Jonathan Kellerman. I did not make a note about the reader. Assume I was distracted by another title.Organizing Knowledge. The reader was, I'm pretty sure, judging by the PSU jacket, a student.My Monumental Suffering. Actually, this is the title of a book I intend to write.Another Nora Roberts book. I could see Nora's huge name on the spine and cover, but not the book's title. The reader: a middle-aged woman, a professional secretary type -- graying, well-fed and well-dressed.

An Agatha Christie book. Again, the author's name was plain to see and much larger than the title. The reader: a 60ish man.

A Nick Hornsby book. The reader was a slender, sad-faced woman in black jacket, black jeans and long, black hair.

Interviewing in Action In a Multicultural World. The reader was a young woman in matching blue-green argyle swirl vinyl rain jacket and vinyl cowboy rain boots.

A J. K Rowling book. Must have been the new one that's got nothing to do with Harry Potter, as it was only about 250 pages long.

Can't Find My Way Home. To judge by the worn backpack, boots, beard and long hair, the reader was a hiker (Of course). He was reading avidly and about halfway through the book.

Prime Witness. Steve Martin. The Steve Martin? The reader was an extremely middle-class, middle-aged white guy, wearing crappy PayLess shoes that looked like they were chopped out of old tires with an ax.

About Me

ABOUT ME
Since you're dying to know:
I worked as a reader and then as story editor for ITC, a (defunct) TV movie company in Studio City, California.
I wrote a few film reviews that Urb magazine published when it was just getting off the ground.
I've completed a half-dozen film scripts; number seven is an eco-thriller with a spiritual theme that will send multitudes into transports of ecstasy.
I make a living as a business writer in the dynamic and unpredictable field of insurance.
I've been lucky enough to contribute to the pocket-size Free Fun Guides. If you live in the populous parts of Southern California, or in the Bay Area, Portland, Seattle or New York, you should get one and never leave home without it. Web site: www.freefunguides.com
I live in Portland, Oregon with my wife and daughter, where we long for an occasional sunbreak and I drink the world's best coffee, usually black.